The sun was just peeking over the east when Harald made his way to down the North Road. The only ones awake at the same time as he was were Ralof and Gurder, who both helped him get back into his armour again. They also would not let him leave without having a decent meal, something he was just as unfamiliar with as the mead, yet he had fond memories of such breakfasts with his family. With his belongings and weapons in tow, he trudged out the North gate and over the bridge passing over the river.

Following the road that Gurder pointed out to him earlier, he headed down alongside the river he had passed over earlier. The air was cool, and a light fog hovered over the road. Startled by his movements as he travelled, a deer bounded across the river to avoid him. The road soon took a sharp bend to the left, then again to the right, then left again, and he found himself walking away from the river.

As he travelled, the sun rose higher, shining brighter on the road and on the scenery. It was the road Harald needed to get used to, since he was already accustomed to the various pinewood trees and mountain flowers. The stones were hard against his boots, not like the softened soil of the forests he was used to, and painful on the edges of the cobblestones that created it. However, off to the horizon, he found what he was apparently looking for…

A great palace poked up to the sky from atop a high hill, like the house of a giant. Open grassy planes with farm houses scattered around the bottom of the hill stood between him and the hill. He could also vaguely see a stone wall around the base of the hill, protecting what Harald imagined to be the City of Whiterun.

The road he was one bent around to the right and Harald instantly froze in place when he turned. Just a few yards ahead of him, a small company of Imperial soldiers escorting a prisoner in tattered rags were marching down the road ahead of him. It was fortunate that they were all facing away from him, but Harald had no interest in becoming an Imperial prisoner again. He suddenly took notice of the familiar pull which has guided him throughout his life, pulling him towards Whiterun, off the road and down a hill leading to a farm.

Down the hill past the farm was another road, which Harald followed around to his left. It was then when he suddenly took notice of the thunderous stomping and the piercing of steel into flesh from the farm he was running by. He looked over into the farm to see a giant humanoid figure stomping into the ground. Around the figure's feet were a group of normal sized people, all in various armours wielding swords and axes. Harald moved forward to join the fight, when he suddenly noticed the giant fall to its knees with the others surrounding it. An armoured woman carrying a composite bow stood in front of the giant's face, an arrow notched and drawn. She let the arrow loose into the giant's skull and it fell dead on its front.

Harald slowly approached the group and marvelled at the dead giant. As he stared, he suddenly became aware that the group were all looking at him.

"Well, that's taken care of," the woman said. "No thanks to you."

Harald looked up and saw that it was him that the woman was talking to.

"You didn't look like you needed help," Harald replied simply.

"Certainly not," replied the woman. "But a true warrior would relish the opportunity to take on a giant. That's why I'm here." She motioned to the rest of her band with her bow arm. "With my shield brothers."

Harald had heard his father use this term before. 'Shield Brother'. He never got to ask him what it meant.

"What's a shield brother?" he asked.

The woman's expression softened slightly as she replied. "An outsider, eh? Never heard of the Companions?"

Harald shook his head, prompting the woman to continue.

"We're an order of warriors," she explained. "We're brothers and sisters in honour. We show up to solve problems, if the coin is good enough."

"Can I join you?" Harald's question blurted out of his mouth before he could stop it. He wished that he hadn't, but fortunately the bowwoman took no offence.

"Not for me to say," she replied. "You'll want to talk to Kodlak Whitemane, up in Jorvaskr." The others in her band were leaving as she continued. "The old man's got a good sense for people. He can look in your eyes and tell your worth. If you go to him, good luck." With that, she left with her 'shield brothers' and returned to the road.

The road! There was a road beyond the farm from where Harald had approached. He hastily ran onto it and continued past the Companions. It appeared to lead to a junction where it forked off to the right, which appeared to lead to the city. Harald took this right turn and hurried past what appeared to be a stable house. A single black horse was in the stable, being tended to by a man in green coloured clothing. He continued down the road towards a tall gatehouse. Armed men in yellow uniforms and helmets that covered their faces watched as Harald hurried in towards a lowered drawbridge around a bend past the gatehouse. He passed under another, this time more robust gatehouse and followed the road around to what appeared to be the main gate. He stopped as one of the guards in yellow approached him, shield on his back and a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Halt," the guard commanded in a raspy voice. "The city's closed with the dragons about. Official business only."

Riverwood being defenceless seems pretty official, Harald thought to himself before replying.

"Riverwood calls for the Jarl's aid," he said in between breaths. It had just dawned on him that he had been running this whole time.

"Riverwood's in danger too?" the guard asked. When Harald nodded, he continued. "You'd better go on in. You'll find the Jarl in Dragonsreach, at the top of the hill."

Harald nodded and followed the guard to the gate. When they reached it, the guard pushed the door open just enough for Harald to slip inside. He heard the gate clank shut behind him as he looked at the city he had just entered.

The city was much larger than his hometown of Bruma, to be sure. A few familiar sights were here, though, like the blacksmith to his right, and what appeared to be a hunters' lodge to his left. Off in the distance down the road, market stalls were set up around a central fountain. Just to his left in front of the hunters' lodge, the road led up the hill. Harald stopped suddenly in his tracks as he saw a Nord in Imperial auxiliary armour talking to a woman in a dress and a blacksmith's apron in front of the smithy. He stood completely still, realising he was still wearing the Stormcloack uniform, as he listened in on their conversation.

"We'll pay whatever it takes, but we must have more swords for the Imperial Soldiers," the auxiliary said.

"I just can't fill an order that size on my own," replied the blacksmith, with a clear Cyrodillic accent. "Why don't you just swallow that stubborn pride of yours and ask Jorland Greymane for help?"

With a scoff, the auxiliary responded. "I'd sooner bend my knee to Ulfric Stormcloak. Besides, Greymane would never make steel for the legion."

The blacksmith threw her hands in the air exasperatedly as she conceded. "Alright, have it your way. I'll take the job, but don't expect a miracle."

The Auxiliary turned around in Harald's direction, and he could feel his heart leap up into his throat. To his immense relief, however, the auxiliary didn't seem to take notice as he walked up the road passed the hunters' lodge and up the hill. Harald then decided it was best to not go in that same direction and ran down the road towards the marketplace.

The market was bustling, with stalls selling strangely familiar goods, from fresh fruits and vegetables from the farms outside the city, to fresh meat fresh from a successful hunt, and even jewellery forged by some famous blacksmith. Each of the store vendors were calling out their wares to anyone who passed by, and Harald was suddenly reminded of home…

Realising he was getting distracted Harald found a flight of stairs leading up the hill. He followed them up and under an archway leading to an open seating area around a large dead tree. Just ahead of him behind the tree, was more stairs leading up to the great pointed palace he saw when he was outside the city. It was the building to his left that caught his attention first, though. More stairs lead up to what appeared to be an upturned boat on top of four walls. Harald turned his head quizzically at this strange structure as he passed it, heading towards the palace.

I think I will need to visit this place when I get a chance, Harald thought to himself.

He continued up a long staircase that bent slightly to the right and continued upwards before bending back to the left where he was originally facing. He continued up until he found himself on a wooden bridge underneath a long archway leading towards another double gate. Harald slowed down as he approached the great gate and pushed it open when he reached it. He walked inside and heard it slam shut behind him.

The room was lit with both torches on the pillars on either side of him and a lit chandelier of candles inside goat horns hanging from the high celling just up a small flight of stairs from Harald. Harald walked up the stairs until he saw a great firepit in the centre of the palace, around which long tables lined with wooden chairs were arranged. Just ahead of the firepit was a man in regal looking clothing, another man next to him with a balding head, speaking with a Cyrodillic accent, and a woman with dark greyish skin and a long face, wearing leather armour and a sword on her hip. This latter character drew her sword upon seeing Harald and approached him as he approached her. The two stopped just feet from each other as she spoke, luckily in Nordic.

"What's the meaning of this interruption," she demanded. "Jarl Balgruuf is not receiving visitors."

With a deep breath, Harald replied. "Gurder sent me. Riverwood is in danger."

Still with her sword at the ready, the woman replied. "As houscarl, my job is to take care of all dangers that threaten the Jarl or his people, so you have my attention. Now, explain yourself."

"It's about the dragon that destroyed Helgen," Harald said, to which the houscarl lowered her sword.

"You know about Helgen?" she asked. "The Jarl will want to speak to you personally. Approach."

This 'houscarl' sheathed her sword and turned back to the two men at the end of the hall. The regal looking man and the balding one watched with apparent interest as the two approached. Harald stopped a few feet before them while the houscarl went right up to the 'jarl' and whispered into his ear. When they had finished, he turned back to Harald.

"So, you were at Helgen," he said. "You saw this dragon with your own eyes?"

Harald nodded before answering. "The dragon destroyed Helgen, and last I saw it was heading this way."

The Jarl's eyes widened as he cursed. "By Ysmir, Irileth was right!"

He then turned to the Imperial and continued. "What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?"

This 'Proventus' stammered for a moment in response, before being interrupted by the houscarl.

"My lord, we should send troops to Riverwood at once," she said. "It's in the most immediate danger. If that dragon is lurking in the mountains-"

She was quickly cut off by Proventus. "The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation," he cautioned. "He will assume we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him. We should not-"

"Enough!" the Jarl bellowed out, standing up from the seat he was sitting in. "I'll not stand idly by while a dragon burns my hold and slaughters my people!" He calmed down a bit before turning back to the houscarl. "Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once."

"Yes, my Jarl," the houscarl, Irileth, confirmed with a fist to her heart before quickly marching down to the doors at the other end of the hall.

"If you'll excuse me," Proventus said with a bow. "I'll return to my duties."

The Jarl calmly sat back down on his throne as he responded. "That would be best." He turned back to Harald and continued. "Well done. You sought me out, on your own initiative. You've done Whiterun a service and I won't forget it. There is, however, another thing you could do for me. Suitable for someone of your… particular talents, perhaps?"

Harald mimicked the salute he saw Irileth doing earlier as he responded. "I would be happy to help, my Jarl."

"Good," said the Jarl. "Come, then. Let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and… rumours of dragons."

The Jarl stood up once more and began walking off to a room on the far-right side of the hall. Harald followed close behind until they passed through a wide opening to the room, which had a long table in the centre of it, with what appeared to be an Alchemy workbench in the back of the room and another small table with various runes on it, which Harald didn't recognise. The table in the centre was scattered with books, scrolls, and small pink gems. Standing behind the table was a man in blue robes, with a hood obscuring his face slightly, but Harald could see a split beard underneath. It was this man that the Jarl addressed.

"Farengar," he said, catching the robed man's attention. "I think I've found someone who can help you with your 'dragon project'. Go ahead and fill him in with all the details."

The robed man, Farengar, turned to Harald as he spoke. "So, the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh, yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons. Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me." He paused a moment and appeared to tilt his head upwards and to the side before he continued. "Well, when I say fetch, I really mean 'delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet which may or may not actually be there'."

Harald stood there for a moment, waiting for Farengar to elaborate further. When he didn't, he asked, "So… where am I going and what am I fetching?"

"Straight to the point, eh?" Farengar remarked. "Very well. I, ah," he seemed to hesitate as he revealed Harald's mission to him. "…Learned of an ancient stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow. A dragonstone, said to contain a map of dragon burial sites."

"Bleak Falls Barrow," said Harald, as he remembered what Ralof had told him. "You mean that ruin over Riverwood?"

"Exactly," Farengar confirmed. "Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet, no doubt hiding in the main chamber, and bring it to me. As simple as that."

Sounds simple enough, Harald thought to himself, before the Jarl spoke again.

"This is a priority now," he said. "Anything we can use to fight this dragon, or dragons. We need it quickly, before it's too late!"

"Of course, Jarl Balgruuf," Farengar replied. "You seem to have brought me an able assistant." He turned back to Harald as he concluded, "I'm sure he will be most usefull."

The Jarl, Balgruuf, turned back to Harald as he continued. "Succeed at this, and you'll be rewarded! Whiterun will be in your debt."

Harald nodded and repeated his salute before heading out to the main hall and back down to the double doors at the bottom of the stairs. A new pull was guiding his footsteps now, and he would let it guide him, though there was a smaller pull, taking him in a different direction…